What’s the Story? A Narrative Sequence of VOLTRON: THE THIRD DIMENSION Episodes

In the 26 years since the final episode of VOLTRON: THE THIRD DIMENSION (“V3D”) television program aired, each episode list that I have seen numbers the episodes out of order with respect to the show’s overarching story. The episode numbers seem to be in production order rather than story order. Even the original air date sequence doesn’t fully align with the story order.

To prepare for my 2015 guest appearance on Let’s Voltron: The Official Voltron Podcast, to discuss VOLTRON: THE THIRD DIMENSION with host Marc Morrell and guest Shannon Muir (Podcasts #40 and #41), I rewatched all 26 V3D episodes and created an episode list that sequences the episodes in story order.

Recently I realized that I had never posted the episode list…until now.

In the table below, The Story Seq # column is my recommended sequence for watching the show in proper story order. The WEP Seq # column is the list of episode numbers from WEP, LLC, the Voltron IP owner and a production company behind V3D.

Story Seq #	WEP Seq #	Title	Original Air Date	Notes
1	1	Escape from Bastille-12	1998-09-12	Clearly the first episode of the program
2	2	Red Lion Breaks Loose	1998-09-12	Direct follow-up to “Escape” Lance’s back story revealed
3	3	Building the Forces of Doom	1998-10-03	Direct follow-up to “Red”
4	4	Lost Souls	1998-10-24	Direct follow-up to “Building”
5	5	A Rift in the Force	1998-10-31
6	6	Shades of Gray	1998-11-07	Over end credits, Hunk teases the premise of “Bride”
7	7	Bride of the Monster	1998-11-14	Over end credits, Hunk teases the premise of “Dominus”
8	9	Dominus	1998-11-21	Keith and Allura revisit Geo, which they had visited in “Rift”
9	10	Voltron Vs. Dracotron	1998-11-28	Voltron Force learns about the dragons for the first time All five dragons combined were more powerful than Arusian Space Knights All Allura’s ancestors were needed to chain Draco, the black dragon
10	8	Descent into Madness	1999-02-06	Keith learns, but then forgets, that Zarkon is still evil
11	12	Pidge Gets Iced	1999-02-13	Keith witnesses Zarkon tampering with Amalgamus Zarkon introduces IGOR; Amalgamus does not believe IGOR was a plant by Zarkon
12	11	Dark Heart	1999-02-20	Coran mentions Ariella Alfor’s ghost tells Allura that, after hearing the voice of a guardian spirit (Ariella), he used his will to tame a black dragon and leave it in chains Allura hears the guardian spirit voice (Ariella) and faces a Robeast using her will
13	13	The Big Lie	1999-02-27	Lance and Keith have been spying on Zarkon, believing he will commit treason Voltron Force lacks proof that Igor works for Zarkon, or that Zarkon tampered with Amalgamus Amalgamus permanently disbands Voltron Force IGOR rebuilt
14	25	The Trial of Voltron	1999-05-01	Clip show; clips from “Escape”, “Red”, “Shades”, “Lost”, “Bride”, “Dominus” Voltron Force found not guilty
15	14	The Troika Moons	1999-05-08	Lions are destroyed Features IGOR
16	15	Queen Ariella	1999-05-22	Direct follow-up to “Troika” Queen Ariella’s spirit tells Allura about lion spirits Amalgamus finally learns Zarkon is evil IGOR reprograms Amalgamus as video game Zarkon becomes leader of Galaxy Alliance Features Ariella
17	16	The Voltron Force Strikes Back	1999-10-09	Direct follow-up to “Ariella” Amalgamus is a video game Under Zarkon’s influence, Amalgamus had previously tried to disband Voltron Force five times Ariella tells Allura that Ariella and lion spirits have guided her throughout her life Lion spirits recreate the Voltron Lions Features IGOR
18	18	Raid on Galaxy Garrison	2000-02-12	Direct follow-up to “Strikes Back” Voltron Force rescues and repairs Amalgamus, now a Voltron Force ally Features IGOR
19	17	Mind Games	2000-02-05	Recalls Lance’s back story from “Red” Recalls Space Lice from “Rift” Features IGOR
20	19	Castle Doom Dead Ahead	2000-02-19	Allura voices apology to Ariella (not featured) for destroying the lions Features IGOR
21	21	Stealth Voltron	1999-10-23	Introduces Stealth Voltron Features the dragons, whom Coran knows to be from an alternate universe Coran was with Alfor when he battled dragons with a sword Dragons were bred by a race of Hunters
22	20	Gladiators	1999-10-30	Features Stealth Voltron Features IGOR
23	23	The Hunter	1999-11-13	Kolak’s first encounter with Voltron Force A Hunter, Kolak has control over dragons Features Stealth Voltron
24	22	Dominus Goes Home	1999-11-06	Hagar’s first encounter with Kolak Features Stealth Voltron
25	24	Consider the Alternatives	1999-11-20	Features Stealth Voltron
26	26	Biography: The Voltron Force	1999-05-15	Cheramoya describes Voltron Force as heroic Amalgamus is Voltron Force ally Clip show Cheramoya mentions “current turmoil surrounding Voltron, with clips from “Trial” (Force on trial), “Ariella” (Lance in Bastille-12 prison cell), “Troika” (Lions destroyed) Does not feature Stealth Voltron Other clips from “Escape”, “Red”, “Building”, “Lost”, “Shades”, “Bride”, “Descent”, “Dark Heart”, “Gladiators” (which is after intro to Stealth Voltron)